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How to set up a group chat in Google

This is a tutorial on how to create group chats using your Google Apps account.. There are two different ways to do this.

Manually Invite Buddy to Pre-existing Chat

First, log in to your Google Apps account. For instructions on how to set up your account, please click here.

Once signed in, make sure that you are in your mailbox. If you are not, at the top of your browser window should be a link for Mail (which is between Images and Drive). Click Mail.

To begin a chat with someone, go to the left side of your window where your contacts appear. Contacts that are online and available to chat will have a green circle next to their name. See the image below for a key to buddies' statuses.

You can hover over the contact's name to make sure it is the right person/email address.

To open up a chat with person, simply click their name. A small box will appear in the right hand corner of your browser window.

You have just started a chat with one other person.

If you would like to add more contacts to the chat, click on the icon with the person and the + sign.

You can then begin typing in the contact's name. If they appear in the drop-down list, just click on their name and then Invite.

You can repeat this step as many times as necessary to invite each contact into the group chat.

Create a Chat Lobby from an Email Thread

First, go to the email thread with all the people you want to add in a group. If there is no preexisting group, create one.

With all the people you want in the group on one thread, find the thread and go to the right-hand side where there it says People.

Click People and a list of everyone who is in the group will appear. Right next to "People", there will be a speech bubble.

Select the speech bubble and a chat box should appear at the bottom of your browser. You can add people into the chat later on by using the steps from the first option above.